This is a list of cameras, tablets, phones, computers and other peripherals I have used since 2012. Some of it is recently purchased while other others have been going for years, over time newer items will be added to the top.
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It's not often that I buy camera gear but after my last purchase around eight years ago, I thought it was time to catch up with tech. Although my other camera's are still working the quality is starting to show and after an ill-fated attempt to buy a Lumix camera from Amazon that was sub-par at best and possibly fake I've been putting it off. Luckily I got my money back on that one.
I finally found what I was looking in Argos at a price that I was willing to pay even if it did cost me £3.70 on the ferry to pick it up.
I must say my first impression is how good quality has got over the last few years, this is the first Sony camera I've owned and it's so simple to use, everything is where it needs to be. With GPS and WiFi this speeds up sharing to other devices and the cloud although it's can be a bit on the fiddly side to get it to work to start with, the lack of detailed instructions doesn't help so I usually end up finding out from YouTube. You can also download additional app direct to the camera via the Sony Memories Store, some are free and some you need to purchase like the time lapse function for £7.99 which I will probably purchase.
I finally found what I was looking in Argos at a price that I was willing to pay even if it did cost me £3.70 on the ferry to pick it up.
I must say my first impression is how good quality has got over the last few years, this is the first Sony camera I've owned and it's so simple to use, everything is where it needs to be. With GPS and WiFi this speeds up sharing to other devices and the cloud although it's can be a bit on the fiddly side to get it to work to start with, the lack of detailed instructions doesn't help so I usually end up finding out from YouTube. You can also download additional app direct to the camera via the Sony Memories Store, some are free and some you need to purchase like the time lapse function for £7.99 which I will probably purchase.
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Although not essential to creating the blogs the Huawei GT watch does come in useful, this isn't a smartwatch it's more of a fitness tracker with some capabilities of a smartwatch.
One the best features is that it has its own built-in GPS so can track your walks which in turn helps me work out where we went and at what time, as I say not truly essential but it will be nice to know how far we actually walk.
The other more obvious point is that I also use a cross trainer at home as I don't get much walking during the course of the day at work so it really is bad for my legs and a shock to the system going on vacation, I'm not as young as I use to be.
My other watch which isn't listed on here served me for about 3 years doesn't receive anymore updates which is something that can really bug you but on the other-hand at least you know that they are probably not going to screw it up.
One the best features is that it has its own built-in GPS so can track your walks which in turn helps me work out where we went and at what time, as I say not truly essential but it will be nice to know how far we actually walk.
The other more obvious point is that I also use a cross trainer at home as I don't get much walking during the course of the day at work so it really is bad for my legs and a shock to the system going on vacation, I'm not as young as I use to be.
My other watch which isn't listed on here served me for about 3 years doesn't receive anymore updates which is something that can really bug you but on the other-hand at least you know that they are probably not going to screw it up.
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Released in early March 2018 I was in the market for a new phone & with plans to change networks it made more sense to buy one that is sim free although I still have a few months to go on my old EE 12 month Sim only contract. Another factor was the cost of roaming with EE & their inability to get it work even if you are willing to pay, something which I never achieved.
Like most tech I buy I watch the price for weeks then buy when it drops & this saved me nearly £100 by July 2018.
Having 4gb ram with 64gb internal memory I now have space to install more types of maps that load faster. I also use a 32gb micro SD card.
One of the most impressive parts of this phone is the dual rear camera that shoots photos in 18:9 ratio instead the traditional 16:9, couple that with full HD video and your onto a winner.
Although the screen size is now 5.84 inches it has very little bezel around it so this it's same size as my old phone that had a 5.2 inch screen. The only downside is the super shinny back that is made out of glass and makes it slide off anything that isn't flat if it's not in a case so it now have a thin cork patch stuck to the back.
Overall I'm impressed with this product.
Like most tech I buy I watch the price for weeks then buy when it drops & this saved me nearly £100 by July 2018.
Having 4gb ram with 64gb internal memory I now have space to install more types of maps that load faster. I also use a 32gb micro SD card.
One of the most impressive parts of this phone is the dual rear camera that shoots photos in 18:9 ratio instead the traditional 16:9, couple that with full HD video and your onto a winner.
Although the screen size is now 5.84 inches it has very little bezel around it so this it's same size as my old phone that had a 5.2 inch screen. The only downside is the super shinny back that is made out of glass and makes it slide off anything that isn't flat if it's not in a case so it now have a thin cork patch stuck to the back.
Overall I'm impressed with this product.
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This was one of the most useful items I bought, it basically creates it's own Wi-Fi that you log your phone or tablet on to. You can then plug in an SD card & USB stick with up to 64gb of storage on each then stream movies & TV shows to your connected devices. Unlike trying to do this via the on board media streaming services on aircraft there is no buffering & you can watch different programs at the same time if we both are using it with the battery lasting around 7 hours, another bonus item is that you can also use it as a portable charger for your phone. We even use this when not travelling to move programs that I've downloaded to the tablet then move then onto USB to watch on the main TV or laptop. For £40 I think this was bargain & would recommend this to anyone who travels & like to take the entertainment with them.
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You may have guessed that I like Huawei products by now.
My old Lenovo tab didn't really fit my needs anymore & although still works fine I found that I needed something with a bigger screen. The main reason for this purchase was for watching TV while on the aircraft and downloading movies to. Most airlines have now taken out the TV screens from the back of the seat so you need the app on your phone or tablet to stream their content to your own devices, the ones that still have them they might as well not bother due to poor quality screens & half the controls don't work.
You get really good battery life out of this as well at around 6 to 8 hours of TV from a full charge although you can charge it from the power sockets below the seats.
My old Lenovo tab didn't really fit my needs anymore & although still works fine I found that I needed something with a bigger screen. The main reason for this purchase was for watching TV while on the aircraft and downloading movies to. Most airlines have now taken out the TV screens from the back of the seat so you need the app on your phone or tablet to stream their content to your own devices, the ones that still have them they might as well not bother due to poor quality screens & half the controls don't work.
You get really good battery life out of this as well at around 6 to 8 hours of TV from a full charge although you can charge it from the power sockets below the seats.
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This is my new baby, Asus Vivobook S14. It may only have a 128GB but its SSD is blindingly fast with the i3 processor inside compared to my other laptop. The best part of this laptop is the illuminated keyboard and it has now become our main travel PC due to the low weight at around 1.1kg and Nano edge frame . It also helped that the price on Amazon went down by almost £200. I must say that I did have some problems with the Wi-Fi dropping out all the time but this turned out to be only happening at home so not a problem with the laptop in the end. Its still a great computer at a fantastic price.
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One thing that seems consistent in most phones and tablets is poor battery performance. I originally bought this for my old Samsung phone that couldn't get through the day after an OS update but has saved me from running out of power on many occasions since. With a 5200mah portable battery you can charge your phone about one and a half times and get at least one full charge to tablet if need be. Given that this can do a fast charge of itself in about two hours it was well worth the £15 it cost me from Amazon. You can get them in even bigger sizes but with that comes the weight and it no longer fits easy into your pocket.
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This camera has seen better days but can withstand being bashed about & also has 380fps slow motion setting and 1080p video with smooth manual zoom in the lens barrel. This was my first super zoom bridge camera that I had owned and was bought for me by Jane. Although it looks complex to use its fairly simple, it also has an articulated screen on the back that can be tilted to up or down for strange angel shots you sometimes need to take. The feature that is most useful on this camera is that is runs off four AA battery's which you can find in most shops if you run out of power. Unfortunately its not very light weight and a bit bulky so mainly get used the most when I'm out on my own taking photographs.
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This is a full HD camcorder, again this a few years old but is as tough as old boots with duel image stabilization and a 30 times optical zoom. One of this cameras best features are the inbuilt time lapse function. I would say though that in bright sunlight the screen can be hard to see and at full HD resolution it produces files sizes in the region of around 100mb per minute so you can imagine how long that will take to upload but you do get the option to change the settings for image quality and you cant really tell the difference. The zoom is smooth and it has no problem holding or tracking focus when you zoom in or out but can be a little tricky to control the speed of it, sometimes it seems to all or nothing. All in all a good round video camera.
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Panasonic Lumix TZ40 compact still camera (my absolute favourite camera) with 20 times optical zoom, the best features on this is a host of in-house effects and GPS so you know where you stood and which way you where facing when viewed in the gallery on PC or tablet, this meta data is stored within the photo so can be viewed on Google Maps. This camera comes with NFC built-in so you can establish a quick connection with your phone to open a local Wi-Fi connection to transfer you photos across, this saves having to keep taking out the SD card, this helps as all my photos get uploaded to Google Photos via the app on my phone so whenever you have Wi-Fi they will automictically upload throughout the day. It can also record video with stereo sound in HD at 50 frames per second but when you try to zoom in or out it can struggle with the focusing to start with. One other neat trick you can do is control remotely via the app on your phone which is useful if you have it mounted on a tripod for night shots although I tend to use the self timer for this.
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This was my first Huawei product that I purchased and which I got for a bargain on Black Friday for half price at £140. It really is amazing what you can do with a phone now without spending a small fortune on something you will only keep a year or two. Considering its a phone the camera is good quality and you get full HD video as well although the main reason for having this is for the maps and using GPS to find our way around. Battery life is also good and will get you through the day without any problems even under heavy use.
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This is good for doing some quick video editing after you download it back from Google Photos, this way it doesn't create to large a file. Coupled with the other apps you can take all of your notes, plans & maps with you, sometimes you need a bigger screen than a phone. This is a budget tablet so its never going to be the answer to all your mobile computing solutions but it severed us well for a year or so. The biggest problem you find with tablets is that OS rarely updates so your generally stuck on the one it comes with. Over the years apps have become bigger but 16gb of memory hasn't changed on most tablet in that time and I find this is now a becoming a problem, even if you add a micro SD card due to OS restrictions most apps can not be stored that way anymore. Like most tablets and phones after a year or so they start to slow down hence that's why I don't pay to much for them.
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My trusty old Asus X401A laptop, its starting to show its age now and been bashed around in more than one or two airports over the last few years, it even survived the Windows 10 upgrade but happily keeps on going. I really cant remember when I bought this but it must have been around 2014 and wasn't that expensive so I'm surprised it has lasted so long, as of 2018 it is now in semi retirement and is mainly used for streaming media to the tv at home.